Discounters Dress Themselves Up
To Lure Well-Heeled Shoppers

It wasn't a bargain on dish drainers or potting soil that kept Virginia de Liagre riveted for half an hour recently at a Philadelphia Kmart. It was, she says, the "fabulous" bed linens.

"I'd never have thought I'd buy linens at a discount store," says the Sony Pictures vice president, whose wardrobe includes expensive designer sweaters and a $3,000 Geoffrey Beene dress. "When I was little, my mother bought underpants at Woolworth and I was humiliated. Now I'll probably always check things out at Kmart."